People Who Post Their Fitness Routine To Facebook Have Psychological Problems

How many gym photos do you see when you head to the newsfeed on Facebook? We all have at least one friend who posts their fitness activity on Facebook, or this could be even you.

Photos with poses that show off the progress in the gym, T-shirts raised up a bit to reveal the tonus of the stomach or the six pack – these are all too familiar for many.

And the fitness activity doesn’t end here, does it? You will see photos of ‘runners’, people who update you on their healthy diet and who can’t help but tell you how much they care for their physical appearance.

As psychology lecturer Dr. Tara Marshall says, it comes as little surprise that Facebook status updates “reflect people’s personality traits”. This is why, researchers at Brunel University decided to do a survey which included 555 Facebook users.

The research found that people who are keen on updating their exercise routines, and who constantly gravitate their posts around their healthy diets that would contribute to their physical appearance, these people tend to be narcissists.

The study concludes that the main motivation behind these people’s fitness and diet updates is “their need for motivation and validation from the Facebook community.” And these statuses indeed get the highest number of likes.

However, when it comes to the likes, Dr. Tara Marshall notes that although the results suggest that narcissists’ showing off does indeed come with more likes and comments to their statuses, “it could be that their Facebook friends politely offer support while secretly disliking such egotistical displays.”

The survey measured the ‘Big Five’ personality traits (extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness), self-esteem and narcissism.Apparently, people with low self-esteem posted frequent updates about their current romantic partner; conscientious people were more associated with writing more updates about one’s children; and then you have the narcissists who posted updates on their achievements and diet and exercise routine, motivated by the need for attention and validation from the FB community.

So, next time, be careful with what statuses you post, as some of your Facebook habits reveal quite a lot about your weaknesses.

Get creative and choose your words, and hold back on your daily updates on your workout progress. Your friends will be less annoyed by the cliché posts and more entertained by your original and creative ones.